Titan Dredd Files
by The Bloodredsandman
Summary: Set in the Legendverse. Something has crossed the dimensional void into the world of the Titans, it's up to the Titans to try and stop its insidious plot.


**A/N: Welcome to my first attempt at a Legendverse fic and as such certainoriginal characters are not mine. **

**This Story alsofeatures characters and events from the Judge Dredd comic universe (we ignore the movie completly) and seeing as it is a predominatly British comicI will attempt to explain as much of them as I can.**

**Thanks for Legendmaker for her help with the is story and her kickass writing.**

**Savior is propety of Legendmaker, Gauntlet is propety of Bobcat, Scalpel and Sophie arepropety of Jedi-and.**

**Other characters are owned by DC and 2000ad.**

**Enjoy**

* * *

Jump City

The Moon was high in the sky, almost seeming to hang symbolically just above the giant T, which dominated the city's skyline; its occupants were doing whatever it was that the Titans did during a crime free night. However, our attention will not be focused on them for the moment. No. Our attention should be focused down on street level, down on a lowly woman walking up and down the street.

Her name is Darla McNamara, although her name isn't really important, neither is her occupation really. Most can see what she works as from her attire, skimpy clothes that left little to the imagination. She hated her job, she did, but she needed the money and it paid well. Not tonight though, the number of Johns looking for a good time had been severely reduced with the JCPD Strike Team's new assignment on cutting out prostitution. Hah, like that would be happening any time soon. They didn't call it the world's oldest profession for nothing…

She shivered, wondering for a moment why she didn't have a coat, and then she remembered she hadn't thought she'd be outside long enough to need one. She took another stroll up the street, past a black alleyway…

…which, as she passed by, caused her hair to seemingly be attacked by a static charge.

She turned and looked down the alleyway, and found…nothing. She shrugged, trying to dismiss it…and found she couldn't. Something was different. The atmosphere felt like it did when a thunderstorm was brewing, even though the night was the clearest it had been in years. Yet something still felt ominous to her.

But she didn't have time to dwell on it. She needed to get some work.

And so Darla found and stood on the corner, staring into space, wishing a curb-crawler would appear, anyone to take her somewhere warm.

A shadow fell over her and she turned ready to put on her best slutty demeanour to attract a customer…

Except this was no regular John.

It was barely a man at all.

"_Greetingssss SSSSSSSinner, The Crime Is Life." _Its unearthly voice hissed as its hand shot out and passed through Darla's skull. As though it was passing through water, the creature twisted its hand, severing vital neurons and killing poor Darla in such a way that she suffered excruciating pain but was unable to scream

"_The SSSSentenccce isss DEATH!"

* * *

_

_In Association with the Legendverse Team_

**THE TEEN TITANS / JUDGE DREDD**

**FILES

* * *

**

**Titans Tower: Some Ten Minutes Earlier**

Titans Tower.

Where some could see it all, or so the song went.

Whether or not that claim was true, it was still a unique building, shaped like a T, and home of Jump City's resident heroes, many faces easily recognizable, others not so much so (unless you read a group of author's works).

So what were the Titans up to on this somewhat peaceful night?

"HEY! That ledge is impossible to reach even with rocket jumping! You're cheating!"

"Please, you only think I'm cheating because you don't have any REAL idea how to rocket jump you noob!"

"Argh! No Leet! Anything but that detestable variant of your language known as Leet!"

"Ha just cause you're getting pwn'ed by Beast Boy, the 1337 roxxor."

The noise from the Gamestation could be considered deafening had the users not been used to that level of volume, the users being Cyborg and Beast Boy, as well as Scalpel…Right some of you may not know him.

Scalpel, or Nigicalnack Hastionfarlock (more easily known as Nigel Hastings) was part of an alien race know as the Blacktrinians, The Blacktrinian race were what could be called a conquering race, due to their high reproductive rates (hence needing more land). They had fallen into a hundred Earth year war with the Tamaranian race, and so Scalpel had been drafted into the army as a medic. However, he eventually grew tired of the bloodshed, (you would too if your blood acted like napalm) and went A.W.O.L to Earth. (That's a brief history, go Read Flashing Lights and Sounds by Jedi-and).

Nigel was, as by some curious quirk of his race, hanging upside down from the ceiling. How he managed to pull off this Spider-Man style act was probably due to the metal claws bonded to his feet and hands: two fingered talons and a thumb on the end of each appendage, able to crush a man's skull or cradle a baby. Despite some thinking they might be inconvenient, they were more then enough for this task, as they moved deftly on the controller with ease.

As mentioned, Nigel was obviously not from around here: his skin was a light grey colour, with a mane of white hair sprouting from his head. His eyes were black with a blue pupil that was currently watching the screen, and more importantly, the sniper-rifle crosshair hovering on Beast Boy's character head.

BLAM!

"Ahh you camping biatch!" The green hero cried out before muttering something considerably more unkind under his breath.

"It's a legitimate strategy, and…" Scalpel laughed as he shot the respawning Beast Boy, "That's for that last comment."

One final note: Blacktrinians have great hearing due to their large ears (though with the volume of the game you'd think he'd be deaf by now).

"Yo Nige." Cyborg suddenly said "You might want to look behind you."

On the screen, Nigel's character turned and got a shotgun shell to the belly courtesy of Cyborg.

They'll be at this for a while, so let's go elsewhere. As we move away from the game playing area, we come across two other Titans, sitting and happily reading, or at least trying to. One was the gothic beauty know as Raven, digesting some arcane spell or such, and the other was her boyfriend, Savior.

Savior, or Noel Collins, heir to the Collins business empire, was engrossed in the two books he was studying, one held in his hands and the other being held up by the Shimmer, a somewhat sentient energy extension of his central nervous system, brought on by being drenched in a chemical agent and normal household paint. This once in a lifetime accident (well twice actually, but more on that later) had not only gifted him with the Shimmer, it also gifted him with what could be described as a new body (one he actually used more then his original body) On the day Savior was born, Noel Collins had effectively disappeared off the face of the planet. (His entire history is documented in Legend Maker's fics: start with Black and White)

Savior's appearance could, and actually had been used as white extremist propaganda: he wore an all white costume with a bit of blue thrown in here and there. This costume consisted of white pants (trousers for the English) a white jacket, and a pale blue shirt. Though it was his hair that was probably his most striking feature: if you didn't know him you may have thought he'd watched a little too much Dragon Ball Z. The hair, like his costume, was a perfect snow white.

He turned the page of The Art Of War with his hand while the white energy strand of the Shimmer did the same with Zhuge Liang's Mastering the Art of War. Not exactly light fare: what was he doing reading these you ask?

Planning, in one word: Savior was the Titan's strategist and regular stick in the mud…which he was about to demonstrate.

When I said he was engrossed in his books, it was more a description of what he wanted rather then what he actually was, because the utter racket of the video game war was getting to him, and with an angry snort he finally gave up on trying to block it out and put the books down as he got up and walked over to the thunderous television.

"Hey! Could you turn it down?" He asked.

"Hee hee! I got the fire darts!" Beast Boy cackled, completely ignoring Savior.

"It doesn't need to be this loud!" Savior said, raising his voice.

"Hee hee! I got the acid grenades!" Scalpel said: all of them were ignoring Savior.

"I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME! TURN IT DOWN!" Savior yelled.

"Hee hee! I got the RFER!" Cyborg cackled himself. Finally having had enough, Savior snatched up the remote control and pressed at the buttons on it…only to find nothing was happening.

"Hey! Why isn't this working?"

"Hee hee! I got the batteries!" Beast Boy said, holding them up, not even bothering to look at the teen. Savior stared at them, and then threw up his hands in surrender and stalked back to his table, not wanting to wrestle with an anaconda to get the volume down, as he sat back down and tried to read again.

Yeah, not the most pleasant of guys, but especially not when the final "New" Titan was around…

Er, where is he?

"Here." Robert Candide, aka Gauntlet, spoke to the startled author, causing him to jump from the seat in front of the small laptop.

"What are you doing here? Actually how the hell did you get here?"

"I came to see the new Author and to get this." Rob said grinning as he picked up a copy of the Author's Plans. "I see they're not allowing you to use the usual computer."

"I'm new what do you expect?"

"Meh," Rob shrugged, "oh and someone should really shut that back door."

And with that the most irreverent of the Titans ran back to his own world, whooping like some demented Doctor Zoidberg.

Okaaay, let's get back to explaining the New Titans. Gauntlet was decked in casual wear (and by casual I mean jeans, sneakers, a T-shirt with black sleeves and a stylized G. Hey, he had no secret identity to hide). His namesake came from the powerful artifact contained in the ring on his finger with a rather large jewel set in it. On activation, this ring would expand to cover his whole arm, and could produce a fairly malleable yellow energy extension, limited somewhat by Gauntlet's mind. I'd like to tell you that he gained the Gauntlet through an amazing feat of skill and bravery…

But I can't: he gained the Gauntlet through random chance and the luck of having his name in the phone book.

I'd also like to tell you he was on the Titans due to incredible feats of heroics…

But again I can't: Gauntlet was originally put on the team due to a court order, (He robbed a bank, admittedly he'd saved it several times before and he believed that the fair city of Uberton owed him a little something). Hence Savior's eternal irritation towards him.

So out through the opening in the fourth wall Rob appeared, whooping away and down the hall.

"Friends! It appears that the Fourth Wall may once again be in need of repairment!" The ever-cheerful Starfire called as she watched Gauntlet disappear around a corner. "He's a strange one." She shook her head, wondering where Robin was currently.

"If Rob did it, I really don't want to know" Savior's voice muttered. People might have actually heard him too, if his sentence hadn't been swallowed by the shout of another word, said word being…

"DELETED!" followed by some slightly maniacal laughter.

"Ah Robin is again going through his E-mail, what joy, I shall go and assist him" Starfire turned and headed to her boyfriend's current whereabouts, which caused her to pass through the kitchen.

(This may be the longest introduction to Characters ever done but bear with me, just two more to go.)

"Will you move your fat backside out of the way?"

Ah, Terra, pleasant as always to her kitchen partner…Terra? The audience cries out, what's SHE doing here? Why is she not a statue? Or more importantly a depowered schoolgirl?

Well in this universe, Terra never became a servant of Slade, due to something Gauntlet did, that has yet to be revealed in the Epic of Gauntlet by Bobcat (There, I conclude my promotion bidding).

"What are you doing in here anyway? I thought you were going on another unneeded diet."

The reply came from one Sophie Matthews, Scalpel's girlfriend (Poor poor Gauntlet. He has yet to find a potential love interest). Sophie was a slightly plump young lady, around the same age as Scalpel, with shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes and a rounded face. She had been the local undertaker and her attire matched her former profession: a black coattail jacket, with a gray waist coat underneath, a white shirt, with a butterfly collar and purple cravat, black stripes diagonally crossing it, suit trousers with a black vertical stripe, and black shoes. As mentioned, she was slightly more heavyset (not obscenely so) compared to Tara, but that gave her some reason to dislike Sophie.

"Really? Cause I'm not the one who brought several packets of Slimfast!" Tara shouted loudly:

She really shouldn't have, it had been a long day and Terra had been pushing during most of it, and eventually Sophie decided to push back.

There was a thunking noise, followed by a loud scream, then followed by yelling. Noel looked over the top of his book towards the kitchen: a knife was now stuck in one of the overhead cupboards next to Tara's head.

"Can we PLEASE leave attempted murder out of any and all retaliation attempts!" Savior yelled at the two.

A now irate Tara took a swing at Sophie, only for Sophie to explode into a flock of Bats and then reform two foot away.

Yes, though not a superhero, Sophie did possess some metahumans abilities, brought on by an accident involving coffee and some contaminated blood (contaminated with the Man-Bat Serum, that is).

"Gar? Nigel? You might want to break your girlfriends up before they KILL AND/OR MAIM EACH OTHER!" Savior shouted, managing to be heard over the racket of gunfire. The two heroes looked at each other and let out a sigh before moving off to separate their better halves.

Letting out a sigh of his own, Noel retuned to his reading. Was it too much to ask for some peace and quiet…

Yes, because, as could be expected (particularly after that opening) an alarm sounded throughout the building.

"The Dimensional Portal Alarm!" Gauntlet burst from behind the table that Raven and Savior were sitting next to, startling the both of them, considering they just watched him run off towards the other side of the tower.

"Raven? You did lock your magic books away after that LAST LITTLE INCIDENT, didn't you?" Savior asked, as he looked down at his hand with a very strong urge to stick it in some bleach.

"After that Hand in Hand incident? I've locked almost all my books away, why do you ask?" Raven replied, as she stood up and headed towards the Situation Room, her boyfriend in tow.

"It's just I don't remember Rob having the ability to turn invisible or teleport!"

"Oh no, that's just the author trying to be funny."

A resounding crash as the fourth wall, already damaged by Rob's use, fell completely apart. (Revealing said author, hunched over the laptop)

"Sorry. My fault."

* * *

**Twenty Minutes Later**

Back to where we were with poor Darla. The CSU's had gotten there pretty quick, and had already set up a perimeter around the area of Darla's body, which was now impaled on an ornately crafted fence, a point of which was sticking lewdly from her chest.

"Welcome to night watch, kid." An elder man in CSU clothing said to his young apprentice. "Busiest time of the day, so to speak, for us anyway. It's gotten better since the Titans moved in, but still..." He sighed, as with his gloved hand he brushed the hair from Darla's face "Shame."

"Huh-huh. Good waste of human life: she looks like a prostitute. High class judging from what she's wearing: those shoes cost 500 a pair."

The older CSU looked over his shoulder at his partner, one eyebrow raised in a questioning look.

"My Missus wants a pair." He quickly quipped, while giving his boss the V's.

"Yeah sure. So give me your first thoughts rookie."

"Well as a guess, I'd say she'd have been walking up and down this length of sidewalk, waiting for a John to turn up, go somewhere warm." He shuddered, pulling his jacket closer around him. "Damn it's cold. Anyway, I'm guessing the attacker jumped her, thinking she had money, they got into a struggle and she ended up impaled."

"Not a bad theory apart from the lack of arterial splatter. You can see from here how far through this spike went, so I'd expect at least a foot or so of splatter. But there's no splatter, which usually means the heart had already stopped beating, so there's no pressure forcing blood out. Still something seems off. Just to be sure, we'd best get an autopsy." He said as his hand went for the camera around his neck. "Someone call Matthews!" He shouted to some CSU's mingling around

"Matthews?" His young apprentice asked

"Sophie Matthews. She occasionally works as a coroner for us, and ever since the departments called in some budget cuts we've been without a coroner. I'm gonna ask Johnson to offer her a job."

"Don't worry. We'll tell her."

The two CSU's looked up to see three of the Titans standing just on the perimeter. Robin was, of course, the voice that had spoke, the two other were Raven and Scalpel. The rest were spread out across the area looking for whatever had caused the alarm.

"Titans." The elder CSU acknowledged them, with a courteous nod of the head,

"Can we help? Or are you just passing by?" The younger CSU asked, the last part filled with something other then pleasantries.

Robin lets a small growl of annoyance escape his throat: no matter what they did there were always people who believed they did nothing but chase idiots in spandex and then party the night away in the tower. That was the problem with celebrity: there would always be people trying to bring you back down to their level.

"Just because we mainly deal with the super powered type of villain does not mean we casually ignore the regular type." Scalpel retorted: he had sensed the same thing from the younger CSU and was slightly angered by it.

However, of course, the reason they were down here was due to the possibility of a super-powered villain, though seemingly none of the Titans bar Rob recognized the alarm. He did claim that Savior and Robin had installed it after the Incredibles had come to this world, which had just opened him up for Savior to belittle him for believing certain movie characters could travel to this world, then of course Rob had to hit back with the Boogeyman events, and now both were separated by 3 blocks or so.

"We got an alarm about an incident in this general area and we decided to investigate." Raven stated simply as she looked at the body from across the tape. There was something emanating from the body, a kind of physic trace or something that she couldn't place; she had sensed something when the alarm had gone off, but at the time she had just thought it was coincidence. Still, she had brought it up anyway, (in a team that face's monsters, super powered individuals and deities on a regular basis, you learn to tell people of sensing anything out of the ordinary.) Hence why she was here at this moment.

"Well, if you can help, you can look, but don't touch anything, this is a crime scene and I don't want it contaminated." The elder CSU lifted the barrier and allowed the Titans to go under it.

"I don't need to touch anything." Raven replied.

"Are you sure this is wise?" Scalpel said as he moved quickly up to the empath. "You've never tried to do this before. You don't know the effects it can have on you, both physically and mentally."

"Yes you're right, but there something off with this murder and I suppose what you'd call a gut instinct is telling me that I have to do this."

The three Titans stopped at the body.

"Ok." Robin spoke. "Do this quickly so we can get out of here and find this creep."

Raven nodded as she closed her eyes and concentrated. Her demon heritage had given her many powers, telekinesis being her most well known, she was also an empath, able to sense the feelings of those around her as well as be able to take their pain away. She also displayed some telepathy: not to the extent of someone like J'onn J'onzz, aka the Martian Manhunter but enough to do what she was about to do.

A black aura crept around her before spreading its wings, revealing itself to be a giant black bird, Raven's soul self if you will. It shed itself of its mortal body and then dove into the head of Darla, connecting Raven with Darla's last moments.

VERY. BAD. IDEA!

Raven's body jerked violently as she witnessed what had happened: she saw the clawed hand enter the head and she felt the incredible pain, as the hand twisted…

But despite this torment, a single memory burned into the young sorceress's mind.

The badge pinned on the creature's chest, shaped like a skull with elongated canines and a single word written across:

Death.

* * *

Scalpel caught Raven as she collapsed, shuddering and spasming as though in a fit. As if he knew, Savior's voice crackled over their com system. 

"What the hell is happening down there? Is Raven alright?" The teen asked, worry clear in his voice as he watched from the building top he was on.

"She's going into a seizure!" Scalpel yelled as he looked at Robin, even as he tried to get his clawed hand into her mouth to grab her tongue and stop her from swallowing it.

"Savior get down here now!" Robin yelled as he too tried to help Raven.

Then all of a sudden the seizure stopped and Raven opened her eyes, eyes devoid of feeling. And this wasn't like when she was under the influence of Trigon. Then, she still had emotions, though they were deeply locked away. These eyes were cold and lifeless.

And at that moment Savior had just done his own Spider-Man thing as he swung down and landed in a crouch by the three Titans, the Shimmer detaching from the lamp post nearby he'd used to bleed off most of his momentum. He was by Raven's side in seconds.

"Raven?" His hand pushed her hair out of her face, and as he looked into those dead eyes, he feared that she had indeed died, like his mother before him, died and he hadn't been able to do anything, again…

Robin looked just as worried on Raven's other side, albeit for subtly difference reasons: he wasn't going to have a teammate just keel over and give up the ghost on his watch…

"Raven! Come on, say something!"

And like a switch, Raven did speak, though not in the way they expected.

"And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth Beast say, 'Come forth and see'. And I looked and behold a pale Horse, and his name the sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him."

And then she again went limp.

As all three looked on in surprise and shock, Scalpel checked her pulse.

"She's alive. Steady heartbeat. Vitals seem good. What was that?" He asked confused at her choice of words.

The other two looked grim.

"It's from the Bible. "Savior stated. "There's a chapter called the Book of Revelations. The passage Raven just quoted effectively describes the End time. The coming of the Apocalypse."

* * *

He strode through the darkness of the city, heading where, he did not yet know, but his mission could not, would not, be defeated, he would start anew, with this world, this would be the perfect site for the beginning of a new… 

He stopped as he heard it echoing through the city. The accursed sound of laughter, of music, of dancing, of life itself.

Instantly he was drawn to it, like a magnet to metal, like a shark to blood.

* * *

This nightclub had only been opened recently and so was packed to the rafters, full of teenagers, young adults and the like all planning to party till the wee hours of the morning. 

Of course in this world, plans never seem to go accordingly do they?

"What's happenin? That's a big look down there, Well don't worry none people , we gonna be layin down some of the freshest tunes all night." The DJ shouted into his microphone as he flipped another record on… only to sense that something was standing behind him. He turned, ready to give whoever had come on to his stage an earful: some stupid drunk out of his mind kid who didn't understand the words AUTHORIZED PERSONEL ONLY...

He froze at what was REALLY there, facing him.

"What the fuck?" Was all he could say about the thing that had come up behind him.

It was fairly tall and skinny, seemingly skeletal. The majority of its head was covered in a helmet with a visor the resembled a portcullis, its mouth pulled up into a toothsome rictus. On his right shoulder was a pterodactyl like shoulder pad, while its left shoulder pad as well as the elbow and knee pads were festooned in bones. Its clothes seemed decayed and fastened with crude stitches, a bat-winged skull used as a belt buckle, looking similar to the badge on his chest. The badge that read Death.

"_Greetingsss sssinner my name isss Death, I am here to judge you."_

"Like hell freak!" The DJ yelled, as he whipped out a Berretta and started firing wildly at the ghoul before him. But the creature known as Death just laughed as the bullets pierced his body.

"_Fool you can not kill what doesss not live. You on the other hand will be Judged." _

Death's hand reached out, passing through the chest of the DJ like the skin, muscles, and bones of the rib cage weren't there, the fingers swiftly finding the heart.

"_For you dying isss easssy, I jusst reach in…"_

The DJ had stopped firing, fear screaming across his face as somehow he felt something brush against his heart

"…_and ssqueezze."_

Now you may be wondering why no one had yet noticed this rather unusual scene to say the least: the reason behind this was the location of the DJ booth, which was far at the back of the club, bathed deeply in shadow, and for a creature clad in black, this was perfect camouflage. The gunshots were also covered by the music being played.

However, said music cut off in time for the blood-curdling scream to NOT be covered.

Neither was the body being thrown to the dance floor, blood dripping out of its mouth and nose.

Of course said scream immediately proved the first in an epidemic of them, as the clubs patrons promptly freaked and tried to escape… only to find the doors barricaded, by several more corpses, all with the same look of horror on their face.

It's funny what the human mind does in panic situations: rather then move the bodies (they were fresh, not even in rigor, dead weight is hard to move but with several people it was quite doable) the crowd tried to find an unblocked entrance, all screaming and shouting, several being trampled to death as the mob surged around and tried to escape. This pleased the creature in the DJ booth greatly.

A piercing sound interrupted the screams as the music was stopped and the microphone flicked on.

"_Greetingsss Citizzzenss, Rejoiccce for Judgment isss at hand, your sssinsss will be purgedddd."_

The microphone cut off and the speaker jumped from the booth to the floor. The deathly grin on his face seemed to grow wider as he looked at the array of people who were before him. Some of these people had survived The Final Night, The Last Wish, The End of Metal, and half a dozen other major attacks…though tonight it didn't look like survival would be possible.

"_Come, don't be ssshy. Death comesss to all eventually…why deny it?"_ The creature spoke: though they could not see the creature's eyes, the crowd felt the cold gaze focus on them one by one. _"Ssso many, ssso young and yet ssso full of sssin. A new age beginsss"_

With a speed that seemed surprising considering his decaying body, Death was quickly among the crowd: he embedded his hand in the chest of a young man, his fingers quickly finding the heart and ripping it from his chest. A woman tried to run, only to find Death's arm bursting out her chest, spraying those near her in blood.

"_Come be judged." _Death laughed as he continued his assault, swiftly turning the nightclub into an abattoir.

* * *

Raven had been stabilized and was standing by the elder CSU's Van by then, drinking a bottle of water that said CSU always carried around with him. Savior was by her side, still worried about what had happened to her, even as he tried to find out what she had seen. 

Robin and Scalpel were continuing to examine the body, albeit under a somewhat terse silence: there was hardly any speaking between the two. In the beginning when Scalpel had joined, Robin had had a few issues with the alien, which culminated in the death of Robin and Starfire's unborn child. It didn't matter that Scalpel had tried to save Starfire from a member of the elite caste of his race known as the White Hole, Robin had acted as though Scalpel had taken a knife and personally ripped the embryo from the Tamarnian. He had subsequently thrown Scalpel out of the Titans, but had eventually realized he was the one acting out of turn and come to forgive him, though he still had some apprehension towards the alien. Old habits die young or something like that.

"I really can't say how she died. As the CSU pointed out, she was dead long before she was impaled, though I would need to perform a post mortem to be sure what killed her. But with what has happened with Raven, it could be supernatural." Scalpel paused and chose his next words carefully. "You don't think it could be the Lord, do you? From the files this seems like his modus operandi."

Robin narrowed his eyes. He didn't like remembering the Lord of the Night, his genocidal dreams and the suffering said dreams had inflicted on Jump City. Scalpel had not been there in the Titans' encounters with the psychotic vigilante turned demi-god, but he had read the well documented files and indeed this did seem like something the Lord would do.

Robin thought for a few seconds before shaking his head "No. There'd be more bodies. The Lord's not one for single victims… and it's likely…"

He was cut off as his communicator bleeped: taking it from his belt he flipped it open and answered

"Robin, my sensors just picked up a silent alarm at that new nightclub. It's only a five minute walk from here. Think it might have something in connection with this killing?"

* * *

Cyborg looked at the Titans with him as he waited for Robin's reply. They'd had the same thoughts upon seeing the way the body was positioned, and for the older Titans, the thought of the Lord's possible return did worry them, Cyborg especially, as he shuddered at the thought, remembering what had happened in the Final Night. The lives taken, the damage done…paradise lost. 

"Go check it out, we'll catch up" Robin's voice issued the order "But Cyborg, be careful."

"Gotcha." The metal teen spoke closing the communication device "Titans, move."

* * *

It didn't take the Titans long to get there. 

Pity for them.

The group of Titans led by Cyborg burst through the door of the nightclub. They didn't make it another step inside before all instantly froze.

The bodies of the bouncers were the first thing they saw, They'd seen plenty of corpses in their time, but there was something off putting about the looks of terror on the faces of these dead.

The nightclub's interior strobe lights affected the Titans' vision for some moments, but it also cloaked them from the club's attacker as he stood there, marveling at his gallery of judged.

"Lots of dead bodies and a freaky dude in the middle of them, I say we found our killer" Beast Boy pointed, his words quiet.

"Indeed, it also appears that he has yet to notice us. What is the plan Cyborg?" Starfire asked, the usual cheeriness in her voice slightly dulled.

Cyborg didn't speak for a few seconds as his systems began a complicated process of scanning the room in several spectrums. The process informed him that the person, if it was even that, standing in the middle of the room was definitely not alive: all the heat within the room was residual from the bodies that not 10 minutes ago had been dancing. This information was relayed to the others in a quiet, tense whisper.

"So what we dealing with? Zombie?" Terra asked, keeping some distance between herself and a dead bouncer.

"Whatever he is, he sure as hell is quiet." Gauntlet said, moving forward.

"Gauntlet wait!" Cyborg snapped, before he realized he'd broken the silence, finally catching the attention of the killer.

Death turned around at the noise. The putrefied grin seemed to grow as he saw the opportunity.

"_More sssinnersss to be judged, come court hasss not yet been adjourned." _He hissed, as he pointed his clawed hand at Gauntlet, who was the closest after his impulsive rush.

"Cool costume, but it's a bit early for Halloween. And those shoulder pads? Soooo 90's" Gauntlet commented. There was a mischievous grin on the youngster's face, a look that was not shared by Death.

Gauntlet shifted into a fight pose as the ring artifact opened up and out, transforming his right arm into what appeared to be a cybernetic appendage, as Gauntlet wondered if the creature looked as fragile as he seemed to be…

…and then he froze.

Death seemed to be coming slowly towards him, and for the life of him, he couldn't move at all. He couldn't even hear the other Titans as the killer seemed to almost drift towards him, its clawed hand reaching out…

Green energy exploded over Death's chest, and he was flung to the floor, an angry hiss escaping his teeth (he had no lips!). Starfire landed by Rob, and to the jokester's horror he realized it wasn't Death that had been moving. HE had. Like he'd been a rat to the Pied Piper…

"Ro…Gauntlet are you Ok?" The Tamaranian Princess caught herself before she said Gauntlet's real name.

Across the room, the other Titans sprang into action and began to attack Death as he got to his feet, even as Rob shook his head to clear the cobwebs.

"Er yeah I think…I was just gonna give him a flyer." Gauntlet said as he pulled out a flyer regarding shoulder pads.

Starfire shook her head and joined the rest of the Titans in the attack.

Death had just again been knocked to the floor by one of the many stone projectiles Terra had launched at him. He sat up again much like a well-known "Deadman" only to be gored ass-over-elbows by the green bull that had charged him.

Didn't seem to bother him too much though.

"_You have broken the Law, It isss time to bee judged." _Death rose facing Terra _"The crime isss life the ssssentanccce isss…" _His hand outstretched, ready to bestow judgment on the blonde.

"Judge this."

The sonic blast threw Death back into the DJ booth with a resounding scream and hiss, followed by a cry of fury as a brace of Starbolts collapsed the roof on him.

"Think he's down?" Beast Boy sighed, his body returning to its base form. He rubbed his head and grimaced at the handful of dead skin that fell from it.

"Dude that is it, as soon as we get back to the tower, Robin can call the lawyers and tell them we no longer deal with the dead. Leave it to George Romero and Bruce Campbell, cause I am officially finished with the dead."

"I hear you on that, but it's in the Superhero handbook." Cyborg grinned, pulling such a handbook out. Gauntlet let out a short cough, and Cyborg sighed, a small compartment opening in his leg, where a roll of dollar bills was situated, he picked a couple out and handed them to Gauntlet "There, paid."

"Erm friends?" Starfire called out as a cracking noise interrupted the Titans. "I think he wants to how you say 'rejoin the engagement'."

Death had managed to claw his way out of the rubble and now stood there, a hole in his chest mind you, but still alive and… well maybe not alive, but he was definitely kicking.

"What the?" Cyborg turned to face the ghoulish creature.

"_Foolisssh children, you cannot kill what does not live!" _

And with that he launched himself at the Titans…

Only to be seized and snapped back neck first by the strand of white energy.

"Wanna bet?" Savior asked, and dumped Death on the ground even as the other Titans arrived. "New guy."

"New Face, same deal. Titans, GO!" Robin cried out, rushing forward, Bo staff extended. He dove at the ghoul, who ducked under the blow, but got hit with the follow up Kevlar-lined punch ( a feeling Death was used to), knocking several teeth out of that terrifying grin, Death staggered back slightly just avoiding the follow up roundhouse kick. But that was just a feint, as black-encased rubble launched towards Death and struck him in the remains of his chest, knocking him backwards slightly. More rubble into his left shoulder from Terra forced him to spin round straight into a double metal uppercut, courtesy of Cyborg and Scalpel.

Death's flying form was caught in a yellow catcher's mitt (or a close approximation) which promptly dropped Death into Savior's waiting Shimmer strands, which in turn hurled him upwards into Starfire's Starbolt attack, and quick flurry of punches, the last one sending him tumbling backwards, where he was then caught by a green pterodactyl…

And that, Dear Readers, is where things royally, as they say in computer jargon, went tits up.

The current strategy had been working because Death had not been getting close to any of the Titans, as they either struck quickly or with distance attacks, but due to the nature of Beast Boy's powers, getting close and staying close was his only option, and that is where Death struck, as his clawed hand slashed out and went straight into Beast Boy's chest, searching for the heart.

"_Man or beassst, you will ssstill faccce ssssentanccce!" _Death crowed in triumph…well he did until fearing for his life Beast Boy shifted forms to something much smaller, in this case a dragonfly, and Death fell to the floor.

Mostly, as he was impaled, through the stomach, on a broken dancer's pole.

"Yeesh." Robin grimaced: what a night. Well maybe it was over…

That thought didn't last for long as Death pulled himself up and off the pole. He hit the ground running, as one thought rocketed through his mind; that these children would be judged…

"Excuse me Sir? Can I just distract you for a moment?"

Now surprisingly Death turned round (must be in the villain's handbook, to always turn to a noise) and the yellow energy wave knocked him back.

"Excuse me Sir? Can I distract you for a minute?" Savior mimicked. "What were you thinking? Couldn't just strike him like I told you, you had to go for the laughs! This isn't a game Gauntlet!" Savior snapped, quite annoyed.

"Have I ever told you you're beautiful when you give me the special treatment? When we get back to the tower, I'm gonna make you a friendship pin."

"Just shut up and keep hitting him, it, whatever the hell that thing is!"

"Yes sir, you 'rejected Dragon Ball Z extra' sir." Rob mock saluted before moving away from Savior's strangling hands.

"_Chillldren why do you persist in thessse childisssh gamesss? You can not deny fate: thisss world will be judged and you can only delay the inevitable."_ Death hissed, back on his feet.

"Put it this way: we quite often delay, stop, deny, and/or win despite the "inevitable", so we're quite good at it and just because you're here doesn't mean our streak is in any danger yet!" Robin said, and introduced Death to a few of his Birdarangs, knocking him down again.

"As it was said, 'Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye and say 'I will be bigger then than you. You cannot defeat me.' And from where I'm standing, you look pretty damn small." Savior said, as Death once more got to his feet.

"_It ssseemsss I underesssstimated thisss world… well sssoon it will not matter."_

Death's hand reached for an orb attached to his belt…that was till said orb was shattered by the glaive thrown by Scalpel. And what a throw it had been: fearing that it was some sort of weapon, Scalpel had quickly unfolded his back-up glaive weapon (being slightly smaller and lighter) and launched it to try and knock it away, however Death had moved it into the path of the glaive and so it had shattered under the impact.

"_Curssse You!" _Death screamed, rushing forward at Scalpel, The alien adjusted his positioning and cracked Death with a _Faluka_ Kick, causing him to stagger away, even as Savior leapt in, his Shimmer forming a variety of bladed weapons to bring to bear…

But this time though, Death went with the situation, as he somehow got around the attack and ended up embedding his hand within Savior, the cold bony fingers seizing hold of its target with horrifying swiftness.

Savior cried out in horror, as within his body a battle took place as the Shimmer acted like an immune system and attacked the foreign invader that was trying to squeeze the life out of its "Daddy's" Heart.

It was a losing battle though, and if Savior had been alone he would no doubt have been dead, but he was part of a team, and a team that always backed him up, as they had moved almost instantly, as Scalpel decided his friend's life was much more important then this THING'S well being, and dashed in, severing Death's hand with his other glaive. The hand dropped out of Savior's chest and to the floor, the blood within Death's body long since gone.

"_RAARRRGHHHHH! You fooliissshhhh children, you cannot ssttooopppp me, I am Deathhh…!"_

"Tell it to Jude Cristodal." Savior retorted, and punched Death across the room.

Death surged back to an upright position as he hissed in displeasure…which did not last for long as Raven and Cyborg both blasted him back again…

Straight into the massive sound speaker system that the club used to pump out the music, the impact causing Death to sever the live wire connection, with his remaining hand.

And the electricity had nowhere else to go but straight through Death.

Death burst into flames, his dead body quickly being consumed by it, flailing under the intense heat…but damn it was STILL GOING, the Titans staring in shock as Death still hissed his defiance…

And then collapsed, all movement gone.

The combined sigh of relief was quite audible.

After a few seconds the Titans moved in to put the fire out, several of them poking the body from a distance. It didn't move any more.

"I guess you can kill what does not live." Starfire said as she floated above the smoking corpse.

Robin let out another sigh.

"I'll report this to the CSU unit, they can check over the body. Titans we're going home."

And so they did.

Though something had troubled Robin about this; he remembered something, a passing note about some creature calling itself Death, but he'd need to get access to the Batcave computer to find it…

* * *

**Later that Night**

The dead body of the creature known as Death lay within the morgue, which was probably a sign of some kind of irony but who knows exactly what. One lone coroner was silently at work, as he was cheap and available at the time. His scalpel dug into the burnt flesh as he spoke into the tape recorder.

"The victim is approximately 6 foot 3, weight around 120 pounds, and his insides have been turned into a fry-up." He joked. "Scratch that last remark." He turned away, looking for a certain tool.

He never saw the three figures, but he smelt the same smell that Darla McNamara had smelt earlier that night, the smell of a storm brewing.

He spun round and screamed as the clawed hand stroked his cheek, blisters and boils forming across the area before bursting and the skin beneath decaying, the rest of his body following suit, years worth of decay happening in a few seconds.

The wet bones of the coroner dropped to the floor, the sound quite loud in the literally dead lull quiet.

Whiffs of smoke trailed out of the cadaver of Death's nostrils, forming into a pale image of Death.

Death had been clever this time: every time he had revealed his spirit form, those who had defeated him had been able to prepare. This time however, he'd stayed around the fringes of his body as it burnt, then re-entered when the Titans had put the flames out. The body was now useless, but those accursed children would not know that he would return.

He turned to the three figures hidden with in the shadows, spread his arms and spoke.

"_Welcome Brothersss, to the birth placcce of our new Nercropolisssss!"_


End file.
